﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿2012 Election Day Update: Guess What Americans - Europe is still disappointed with you and Obama - particularly since you have no socialist equivalent to give you something comparable to our "balanced" political system! Why haven't you closed Gitmo? Why do you still insist on killing terrorists with drones? Why won't you bring back Kyoto and end global warming?

Here's the bottom line: If Obama wins - get ready for 4 more years of subdued moaning in German media about how disappointed we are that America has not yet become the paragon of social justice that we expected Obama to make it. Or - if Romney scores an upset (which we see as unlikely) - a really loud return to full-on, Bush-is-back, Hate-America-Mode. A Romney win is what all German journalists secretely hope for - as it will mark the return of the age of highly profitable and socially acceptable America-bashing that accompanies any Republican administration.

And oh - by the way - SPIEGEL reminds us yet again that America is still in "downfall" mode - a state which the country has apparently been in since the foundation of SPIEGEL magazine: "The American Patient: Of the Downfall of a Great Nation"